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Some worthless relic from the past....

I must apologize for the recent lack of updating due to the fact that there are some tidy chores in my house for the upcoming repair works that are gonna take place in days to come. As such, I might see myself being tied up for some packing and clearing up some stuff along the process. The last time around I unearthed the two precious TNP centerspread of the Malaysia Cup era and now here are some relics I discovered during my clearing out...

OLD MATCH TICKETS
I think match tickets are something just like a piece of stamp that reflects well on something that happened in the past. On and off, I would always get an email from a Belgian ticket collector asking for the used tickets for those Lions' matches. Unfortunately, these used tickets below are not to be given away at any price for their significance.


(Pictured above) This ticket was the admission slip to the S.League Opening ceremony on 14 April 1996 at the National Stadium where the Thai national team was in town to pit against an S.League All-Star Selection. In the end, it was the guest that won the match and the ceremony was graced by the then Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong. Noticing the SAFFC logo imprinted on the slip, this ticket was purchased at Jurong Stadium (the former home ground of the Warriors, with aid from an ITE classmate).

  On 20 April 1996, the inaugural S.League season kicked off at various venues with Balestier Central taking on Police FC at the Toa Payoh Stadium. I was lucky enough to see the first-ever S.League goal scored by Bosnia striker Esad Seijic (who incidentally scored the league's first-ever hat-trick) against a Brazilian-fronted Police side, who eventually won the match 2-1.

If I'm not wrong, this match dated 14th June 1996 WAS NOT the match that recorded the highest-ever attendance in the league history, it was the returning fixture for the Rams-Eagles match at the National Stadium. Despite purchasing the "Gallery" tickets, I and a group of pals managed to sneak into the bench section of the grandstand.

  Think about it, it was only $12 then to catch an EPL side to play at Kallang (as compared to $88 to see Liverpool last year)!! Fans got to see David Ginola (and we are STILL waiting for Etoile to fulfill their promise), and Peter Beardsley of the Magpies, while a certain Alan Shearer was here as well (but the then manager Kevin Keegan wanted Shearer to be featured in his first game as a Newcastle player at Newcastle and let many Singapore fans disappointed).

 
9th November 1996 was a date to be remembered in the history of Singapore football, as Fandi Ahmad climbed up to the podium to receive the brand new S.League trophy and declared Geylang United as the first-ever S.League champions after beating SAFFC in the Championship match at Kallang.

FIXTURE CARDS
Here are some rather handy-size fixture cards for reference in the past. I'm not sure if it's worth any effort to print them nowadays, since the fixtures frequently alter and I do really lose track at times. Nonetheless, these cards made good souvenirs and collectible items...

(From Top to Bottom) 1994's Singapore's fixtures in the Malaysian League, followed by the "Tiger Beer" Series and the "Pioneer" Series of the inaugural season, and the 1997 season saw the league starting off with 9 (instead of the supposedly 10) with the inclusion of Jurong FC. 

The debut season modeled the J-League format for having a two-series format and a decider match to determine the Champions, unfortunately, after the highly successful "Tiger Beer" series, the follow-up "Pioneer" Series was all but a disaster (as far as I was concerned) with dwindling interest, probably because local fans were not accustomed of having such weird league format. 

Therefore, the following season became a "single-series" format with the inclusion of Jurong FC and Landmark Marine Castle, however, days before the season started the latter pulled a shocker by abruptly withdrawing from the league. 

Citing "no ready" as the primary reason, although weeks before that they allegedly tried to lure Egmar Goncalves from Police FC failed after the Dragons lodged a complaint against such dealing "behind the doors". (The facts detailed above are based on my recollection and truth knowledge, please feel free to correct any factual mistake, thanks)

Comments

  1. wah Pohui, i must say this is a brilliant entry. it was the prime period of the S-League.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Indeed "El Fenómeno",

    Those were the days and etched history of our league...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I used to keep all the tickets from the Chelsea games i went to in the 1980's, it's still nice to look at them every now and again, to bring back a few memories. nice blog, thank-you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We have come a long way down since then, so hard to look at the crowds in the stands now. I hope we can bring the crowds back, but how?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well "icedwater"...

    I think we should ask ourselves, "have we ever SELL the League to those around us?"

    Like telling they that about the awesome performance by Home Utd in their win over SAFFC last Friday..

    ReplyDelete

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